The Strength of Forgiveness (yeah, I know it's a cheesy title)
by DataTheAndroid
Summary: After Anger accidentally injures Fear, he starts to feel like he can never forgive himself. What he doesn't know, thought, is that he is not alone.
**Hey guys, this is my first** _ **Inside Out**_ **fanfic so please forgive me if some of the characters seem ooc. Also, I'm Irish so if I accidently use some Irish slang please forgive me.**

Riley had had a busy day, and Joy did her best to keep her happy all day long, along with the help of the other emotions. It had been a year since she and Sadness had gotten lost, yet the memories were still fresh in her mind. Such as the guilt she felt when the realisation came to her of just how important Sadness was for Riley. How could she have not seen it before? Riley couldn't feel truely happy without Sadness.

Now, both Joy and Sadness had gotten over it, they both learned to forgive and forget, but sometimes, Joy still felt that guilt, like an open wound that never really healed. She new that Sadness had forgiven her a long time ago, but she just couldn't forgive herself. How could she have been so blind? She knew Sadness didn't blame her for it, and certainly didn't hold any grudges against her, for it wasn't in her nature to do so.

And that's what made Joy feel guiltier than ever. Sadness just didn't have it in her heart to judge people, and she always seemed to understand others. An ability which Joy lacked. Before their big adventure, Joy never really tried to understand others. But she knew that she would eventually have to forgive herself, because it couldn't be good for Riley if she didn't.

Putting those thoughts aside, Joy looked up at the view screen and noticed that Riley was slowly beginning to lower her eyelids. She closed over her laptop where she had been perviously surfing the web, and let her eyelids droop, until eventually she had fallen asleep.

Joy turned around with excitement and brought her attention to the sky which was hastily turning to darkness as Riley drifted off to sleep. This was one of the rare times she was glad that it was Fear's turn for dream duty. She was exhausted.

"Alright Fear, you got dream duty tonight!". Joy exclaimed with a rather joyous tone, though the others could here the tediousness in her voice.

Fear grumbled slightly at this, as he obviously had a dislike for the job. None the less, he made himself a cup of hot chocolate and sat himself down at the console, ready for a night of pure and utter boredom. As Riley drifted into REM sleep, the first dream began to play.

Riley was running through the forest, hearing the howl of a lone wolf behind her. She was breathing heavily, trying to escape. Up ahead, she saw some bushes and made her way towards them. As she swatted at the bushes, she tumbled through to the other side. There she saw the wolf, sitting, staring at her.

"Hello". It was the wolf.

"Um...hi". Riley this time.

"Do want to have a picnic with me?"

"Uh...Ok". Both Riley and the wolf were suddenly transported to a lovely picnic area and began eating ham sandwhiches. Fear just stared at the screen, with confusion clearly eatched across his face.

"Boo! Pick a plot line!". Fear argued with annoyance. Dream Productions certainly had a knack for coming up with some pretty whacky, often stupid ideas.

As the night rolled on with nothing of interest to Fear, the purple emotion slowly began to nod off. Three, two, one and lights out.

As morning quietly began to roll in, the other emotions were waking up and getting ready for another big day. Joy was in a much better mood thanks to a little sleep. Both Anger and Disgust were looking quite groggy, but as soon as Anger walked into the main room of HQ, a sly smile creeped onto his face. As he noticed Fear alseep at the console, a great idea sprung to his head. This was one of the rare times he could catch said emotion off guard, and he was going to enjoy it as much as possible.

Disgust noticed the smirk on the red emotions face, and questioned it.

"What are _you_ smirking at?", she said rather groggily.

"Just watch". Anger quietly made his way up behind Fear, who was still sleeping with his head down.

"BOO!", Anger yelled with a devious grin across his face. But what came next made him go so pale it seemed almost unnatural, for Anger anyway.

Fear yelped in surprise, and jumped up in sudden shock. He fell backwards off of his seat. He landed on his back, but his left leg got caught between the back of the chair and the seat. A sickening _crack_ was heard as Fear's left leg twisted completely out of it's natural position.

Fear let out a sharp howl of pain as his eyes forced shut, a grimace of agony etched on his face. The other emotions had witnessed the event, and a chorus of gasps and cries were heard, while Anger continued to turn pale.

 _It wasn't supposed to happen like that. It was an accident. What have I done?_

These thoughts bombarded the red emotion, while the others ran towards their fallen companion.

"Oh my gosh, Fear are you alright?!", came Joy's worried tone. She bent down so that she was level with the injured emotion.

"Ew!", came a horrified cry from Disgust. "His leg is all bent and twisted. Gross!".

"Are you ok Fear?", came the worried voice of the ever compassionate emotion, Sadness.

Fear tried to answer with a _yeah, I'm ok,_ but the fact that he could only manage a weak groan clearly contradicted what he was going to say. Joy knew that he was far from ok.

"I think your leg is broken." Joy said, but the look she got from the others clearly said what they were all thinking. _You think, Joy?_

Fear began to feel quite weak, but he compelled himself from blacking out. It couldn't be that bad, right? He looked down at his left leg and immediately regretted it. It had been twisted into a very unnatural position, and the sight of it made his stomach churn. He managed to restrain himself from throwing up, but he couldn't quite stop himself from half gagging at the sight. He was joined in this by Disgust.

Sadness suddenly remembered something she had read in one of the Mind Manuals. There was a First Aid kit behind one of the shelves where the manuals were stored.

"Joy? There's a First Aid kit over by the manuals."

Joy turned to Sadness with a look of relief. She then sprinted over to the said area, frantically searching for the First Aid kit. There. Over on the bottom shelf was a small white bag with the words _FIRST AID_ clearly written out on the front. She grabbed it hastily, and ran as fast as she could back to her injured friend.

All the while that this was going on, Anger had remained silent, afraid that if he were to speak, he would be judged for his actions. He knew he didn't mean for this to happen, but the others didn't know that. What would he say? What _could_ he say? Most importantly, what would he say to Fear? Saying sorry was something that just wasn't in his nature, so how would he be able to say it now? Well, he guessed he would just have to try. But he decided it was best to do so later, when this whole messed would die down.

Joy handed the First Aid kit to Sadness, who then proceeded to kneel down next to Fear. She looked at Fear right in the eye, for she knew that what she was to say next would most certainly make her injured friend even more uncomfortable, and Sadness was going to try to comfort him.

"Ok Fear, I have to straighten your leg out, and its going to hurt. A lot. But don't worry, I'm right here. It'll be over quick". At these words, Fear seemed to get slightly more aggitated, but he knew that if he was with Sadness, it would be ok. That was Sadness' gift.

Slowly, she lifted his leg, and began to straighten it. Fear had to clench his teeth together to keep him from crying out, and Sadness could clearly see this. As soon as the leg was completely straight, Sadness took out two splints and tied them around it. She then gently blanketed it with an elecrtic blue bandage. Finally, she grabbed the pair of crutches beside her and handed them to Fear.

"Here you go, you'll need these to walk". Fear thanked Sadness, as both Joy and Sadness helped their purple companion to his feet.

"You ok?", asked Joy, and she sounded quite worried, being Joy.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks to Sadness". He sent a small smile towards said emotion, who returned it with a rare one of her own. As Fear got settled into his crutches, he noticed that Anger had retreated quite a bit away from them, and wouldn't dare look Fear in the eye.

"Anger?", Anger turned around, looking a little shocked, for he had not spoken in a while. He looked to who had spoken. To his surprise, it was Fear.

"Are you ok Anger?".

"Y-Yeah. Are you?", the response came weaker than Anger would have liked. But he did just break his best friend's leg. Huh, best friend. Some best friend he was.

"I'm fine. You know, I'm not angry at you. I know it was an accident.".

Anger's eyes widened just enough for Fear to notice.

"Really? But I-"

Before Anger could finish his sentence, Fear's knees buckled slightly beneath him. He was weak. After this whole ordeal, he just needed to get some sleep.

"You better get some rest Fear. You don't look so good.", Joy had spoken. Sadness came over and wrapped one supporting arm around his shoulders and led him towards his bedroom. Before he entered, he took one last look back towards Anger, who was staring at the ground, lost in thought, before entering his room, lying on his purple bed and closing his eyes, quickly falling into a much welcomed sleep.

 **Well, that's it for the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm hoping to make this story a two parter. But I have to warn you. I'm a slow writer, and it might take longer for me to be satissfied on the next chapter, so if it takes a while for me to update, you know why. Also, I originally intended for this to be a one-shot, but I felt the last sentence ended a chapter perfectly.**


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